She frowned. “What benefit?”
Linc flicked her a sideways glance. “Oh, did I forget to mention? Sophia found another date for the charity event next Saturday night.”
“She did?”
“That’s right. Turns out she’ll be going with Beau. I’m going to owe him big-time for the favor, but that can’t be helped.”
“I don’t understand.”
One of his dark eyebrows arched up. “You don’t?”
“No.”
“Then let me spell it out for you. I’m not interested in Sophia Aiello—I told you that before. My date is sitting in the passenger seat. That night she’ll be sleeping in my bed, same as she will be tonight.”
Carly’s heart made a funny little kick. Linc had changed his plans to be with her. He wasn’t interested in stunningly beautiful Sophia Aiello. He was interested in Joe Drake’s granddaughter, the owner of a nearly bankrupt trucking company. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“I presume that’s a ‘Yes, I’d be thrilled to go with you, Linc.’”
“Umm . . . okay. I’d love to go to the benefit with you, Linc.”
“That’s better. It’s black tie. If you need something to wear—”
“I’ve got something. Several somethings. They’re packed in those boxes you had brought over to the ranch house.”
“Good.”
“The benefit isn’t till the end of next week. I guess that means you don’t think the problem with El Jefe will be solved and I’ll be back in my own house by then.”
“Or maybe it means that even if it’s solved, you’re still the woman I want to take to the benefit.”
Something shifted inside her. It made her want to smile. Then her worry kicked in and the feeling changed, morphed into something closer to fear. Every day she was getting in deeper with Linc. Every night she gave him more of herself. When it was over, she was going to be very badly hurt.
Linc’s green eyes came to rest on her face and there was a gentleness there she hadn’t expected. “It’s just an evening in the city, okay? That’s all it is. We’ll go to the gala, spend the night at my apartment, and come back here the next morning.”
She nodded, felt a little better. It was a date, an evening with a wealthy, handsome, incredibly sexy man. She could handle a date with a man like that. She’d done it more than once over the years. Well, none of those other guys were even close to Linc, but still . . .
She began to relax.
Then the tall, wrought-iron gates of Blackland Ranch appeared up ahead. There was a guard on each side of the entrance. In the distance, several sets of headlights illuminated the fields, moving in indiscernible patterns, armed men riding four-wheeled ATVs.
Tomorrow she would have her grandfather’s most trusted employee arrested for embezzling.
For the first time since she’d decided not to sell Drake Trucking, Carly wasn’t sure she had done the right thing.
Chapter Eighteen
The weather was warm, the humidity high, a typical late-September day in East Texas. Linc drove Carly to the truck yard that Saturday morning for her meeting with Donna Melendez. Earlier, Carly had phoned her office manager and asked her to come in. Then they were calling the sheriff.
Embezzling was a crime. Like the robbery Linc had attempted when he was a kid, there was no excuse.
Carly was sitting at her desk, Linc standing a few feet away, when Donna arrived. The door to the inner office stood open.
“Come on back,” Carly called out to her.
Silver-streaked black hair clipped at the nape of her neck, Donna smiled as she hurried into the private office. “Sorry I’m late. One of my grandkids has chicken pox. Her mother is frantic. I stopped to bring her some calamine lotion.”
She paused when she spotted Linc, leaning casually against the wall a few feet away. His height and build intimidated people. It was one of the reasons he was there.
